༺ The Rat & the Monster ༻
by Constellations of Neverland
Summary: "There is a rat in Corona's castle and a monster on Arendelle's throne." Discrimination and conspiracy theories have spared neither Prince Eugene nor Queen Elsa from vilification. Even as they try to be strong for their loved ones, their eyes are forced open to their past mistakes. (Elsa x Eugene x Rapunzel)
1. Author's Note: Dissension

_"Man is born free, and everywhere he is in shackles." _

**(~ Rousseau)**

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❄**~Synopsis~**❄

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_"Oh, good heavens. The Prince of Thieves and the Queen of Beasts."_

_"Which one is the worst sort?"_

_"They are matched in disrepute because they have both proven themselves to be incapable of a stable moral conscience. How can anyone believe that they suddenly had a change in nature just because they want to be 'likable' now? The world won't forget what they are and did, so they will eventually succumb to old habits once they feel unaccepted enough, which was the entire reason for their falls from grace the first time. "_

_"It's blasphemous even if they don't. An expert thief of illegitimate birth and a destructive conjurer of witchcraft should not be given immunity, let alone a seat within royal ranks."_

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Can either ex-outlaw overcome the insecurities of being diminished to labels, or will the past rear up like a tidal wave and sweep them from the paths of their future? Will they run away again to reclaim the autonomy they initially pined after?

After Corona's swashbuckling ambassador is stationed in Arendelle without the return of the king's daughter, the thin lines between toleration and bigotry are exploited.

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**Author Note**

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I always thought it was unrealistic for Eugene and Elsa to be welcomed into royalty without dissension. Their crimes, after all, still happened, and other monarchs, including their own natives and politicians, weren't there to witness their true characters when the scenarios with Anna or Rapunzel took place.

Popular canon opinions should've entailed Eugene embezzling, conning, and exploiting the Coronian house as Prince Consort, and Elsa once again "dooming the lands" or any opposing kingdom with sorcery. Most also would've been bitter about destroyed crops and past thefts made on their estates, so it's an inescapable setup for prejudice via ignorance, is it not?

Although the politics and catharic compassion will be the external layer, the plot does orbit around a _Rapunzel x Eugene x Elsa_ overtone, so the obscurity in that building undercurrent will be on the frontier of this story _(do not expect cliched friction, however)_.

In hindsight, the judgmental perceptions outsiders have of their reputations ultimately put a strain on both Corona's and Arendelle's relationships with their allies, whom are not only mistrusting of Eugene and Elsa, but of Rapunzel's parents and Arendelle's regime. That chaos opens up the frequency waves for a supportive friendship to build _(whereas Anna and Rapunzel could neither relate to nor understand how that level of discrimination felt)_, along with the platform for some "mixed" chemistry to slowly manifest as they mutually struggle to belong among royal circles.

If that is not going to be your thing, then this has been a tsunami alert.


	2. Prologue: (This Time of Year)

**_Prologue_**

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**_\|.✸.|/_**

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Whenever King Baldemar smiled, his eyes crinkled up into half-moons, and the crow's feet around them reminded Eugene of the sun rays in Rapunzel's sketches. It was King Baldemar's eyes, Eugene thought, that always put him at ease.

Until now.

"Aren-delle..." —His voice vibrated through the study halls like a Chinese drum, going down in him vein after vein. "It has always been described as the 'land of wealth,' where 'riches flow from across the sea.'"

His narration grew light and breathy with a touch of humor, but Eugene felt, to his own chuckling discomfort, that the statement was made to bait him out somehow, so he cleared his throat, shifted his eyes, and stretched his collar with a nervous grin.

"The stones embroidered in Rapunzel's crown were from King Olaf III himself. A gift — of sorts — after the war with King Ignatius of the Southern Isles."

Eugene watched the Coronian king's lips move to the memory until he emboldened himself to peek down his own nose at the map rolled out between them.

"Lonely looking, isn't it?" The king hummed as he smiled at the squiggles and scrawls shaping Arendelle's land mass, giving its inked hills and painted mountains a look of misty-eyed affection. "Yet I think of it to be such a delightful place..._cool_, on occasion, but delightful on every; the seasons had just the right humidity, and the king carried a generous amount of warmth. I wish I could have attended his daughter's coronation personally."

Eugene's shoulder bobbed at the comment as he rolled his eyes all around its geography with a vague smile, stationing them on the isolated castle which seemed to float above sea level on a raft.

"—Were you ever acquainted with it before you attended Queen Elsa's coronation?"

...Eugene popped his head up to stare at the monarch with bulging eyeballs and stapled lips.

The laugh lines around the man's mouth moved before he raised his chin. "With the kingdom of _Arendelle_, that is."

"...N—No!" The voice Eugene wheezed out made him sound like his entire body was sandwiched between two whales. "No-_ho_, ab-so-lute-ly not—...I mean, 'course I've — I'd _heard_ of it — and I _might've_...had my _visitations_ once or twice once upon a time, but—..." His tittering laugh came to a stop.

The Coronian king's face was as warm as it was when he watched Rapunzel fumble. They were by all means the most unaccusing eyes he had ever seen. The aged fellow then made a show out of cocking an eyebrow to add playfully: "_Only,_ once or twice?"

Eugene wiggled the fingers that were folded behind his back. "Arendelle's—..." He rocked on the balls of his heels, bobbing his head from side to side, and then refaced the king with a hangdog smile: "...—_nice _this time of year."

The king blinked, seemingly unaffected. "I see." Then came a jolly, good-natured diversion when he hunched his shoulders and pretended to whisper like a child: "With a grand inventory of _adventures _to be undertaken, I'm sure."

The corner of Eugene's mouth hitched up. He abandoned the tension in his posture and 'teh-ed' at his shoes, looking up to smile sheepishly back. "...Almost a whole archive, Your Royal Majesty."

"Well, then! Queen Elsa has always fancied a good story or two — so long as you retell it after her state dinner, of course."

"...I beg your pardon?"

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**_\|.✸.|/_**


End file.
